Fox Hunting
by avatarjk137
Summary: Kyuubi's weakening the seal, slowly but surely. Naruto's afraid to tell anybody. How long can he go through the motions of his life before the seal ruptures completely? And what happens then? First-person, plentiful action, high T rating.
1. Unwell

**Welcome to Fox Hunting. I'm quite aware that Chapter 1 is a bit short. The following chapters should be longer. There are a few things you should know, if you're the considerate type who takes the time to read author's notes (all of you, give yourself a pat on the back). First, this is my first Naruto fic, my first anime/manga fic at all, to be honest. Second, I don't use suffixes and I keep Japanese to a minimum, only new names of people, places and things will be in Japanese (besides what already is, like _kunai_ for example). Third, this is first-person, from Naruto's point of view. It's also my first fanfiction in first-person, but I like to think I did well. Finally, if you aren't familiar with my work, expect lots of action and a little humor, and not much in the way of romance. Okay, now that that's out of the way, enjoy the story!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, or any of the characters within. I only own the contents of this story.**

**Fox Hunting**

**Chapter 1**

**Unwell**

I was being chased, I knew that much. I jumped through the forest, careful to use chakra to stick every tree branch landing. The trees looked unhealthy, and I was taking enough risk of landing on a branch that might break under my modest weight. I didn't need to risk slipping. I took a glance back as I hopped to the next branch. At least three people pursuing me. _Good odds._ I decided to let them draw closer before I fought back.

Another ten seconds, and I could make them out. They were shinobi all right, but no marker indicating their village. Black and red clothes covered their bodies from head to toe. There were three all right, although there could be more behind. And I was all alone. The realization hit me like a shuriken… _I was all alone._ Oh, wait. That was a shuriken. It stuck in the back of my shoulder, but didn't go very deep. Hurt like hell, though.

They were close enough now, and on the next jump, I twisted around, drew a trio of kunai, and let fly, one at where each target would be in a couple of seconds. Two of them hit their marks, which dissipated – regular old clones, nothing fancy – but the real foe, the one on the left, threw a ghostly white shuriken. It vaporized my kunai on contact (_what kind of shuriken IS that?_) and kept going, right towards me. I tried to evade in midair, but it still scored a shallow cut across my hand, which went numb.

**"Weak…"**

I ignored the voice and kept moving, taking a second to glance at the wound. To my shock, a demonic red aura was leaking from the wound. A very familiar demonic red aura. The red chakra poured from my hand, forming into the shape of a fox's head. The fanged likeness grew bigger and bigger, engulfing the red-and-black-clad nin. "No… get away…" I whispered, stepping backwards. I forgot there was nothing to step onto, and the next instant I slipped from the branch and fell, down into the darkness.

_CRASH! _ I smashed through something flimsy, falling at a slower pace to whatever lay below. What lay below was yellow light and a few inches of water… I had hit my head too hard on the landing to make anything else out. I moaned as I sat up, and cradled my head until the pain subsided enough to see through.

**"Kit… you are weak…"**

Oh, crap. Ohhhh, crap. I was in the sewer. The sewer where I kept _him._ There were dark corridors everywhere, and ankle-deep water, and yellowed lights. I was in a large, high-ceilinged chamber, and I only knew one chamber like that. I turned around, and stared up at the demon's face.

The red eyes and sharp fangs glinted back at me, the same as always, but something was different. The gate was worn and dented, caving outward, and the seals on the cage were starting to smear and fade. Right where the two halves of the gate met, there was a gap, and although it wasn't even as wide as the space between the bars, it was certainly wider than I had last seen it. A steady stream of vivid red chakra poured out from this hole, tinting the water a vile orange color. The voice I had heard earlier… it was the Fox's.

**"Your body is scrawny, weak, **_**unacceptable**_**. I will tear it apart, whelp, and construct a new, more fitting body… something to be **_**proud of**_**."**

The tendrils of chakra reached out through the bars again, but this time, they weren't enveloping. They adhered to my skin, my clothes and pulled, and I screamed as they yanked me apart. They peeled my outer layer off like an onion… and underneath…

"AAAAAHHHH!" I jolted awake, panting hard, glancing around. No sewer. No dead forest. No mysterious ninja with glowing shuriken. And most importantly… no demon foxes tearing me apart. Just early-morning sunlight and a messy bedroom. I rubbed my eyes, trying to clear the memory of the dream from my mind. But I knew it wouldn't clear, because it was more or less the same dream I had last night… and the night before… and every night since that fateful battle.

I rubbed my eyes again, feeling my heart rate slow in the wake of the dream. My right hand was tingling all over with the feeling of pins and needles – I must've slept on it. I yawned and rolled out of bed, struggling to my feet. Time to make some breakfast.

I poured water into a Styrofoam cup filled with Instant Ramen and threw it into my microwave, blearily punched a few buttons on the panel, and watched the machine light up and hum. While that was cooking, I went over to the mirror and looked into my reflection.

Shit. They were back. A pair of fangs, nearly an inch long, jutting down from my upper jaw, making me look like a freaking vampire. Shit. I did the same thing I had done last time, and the time before – I grabbed the fangs and yanked them out in one quick tug. My mouth was filled with blood for a few seconds, and the pain made me see double, but then new incisors grew in. _Courtesy of that stupid Fox,_ I thought, which was why they were going to grow into fangs again in the next couple of nights. I had been getting them every night lately.

Wait, you ask. Why am I growing fangs? Well, it hasn't always been this way. It's a pretty recent change. Y'see, about a month ago, when I fought Sasuke to try and keep him from going over to Orochimaru's side (a battle I lost, sadly), I had to get the Fox's help… layered on top of his usual boost. There was so much demonic chakra that it wrapped me in a one-tailed fox shell. Unfortunately, that was too much. I weakened the Fourth Hokage's seal by overloading it with chakra. The seal isn't gone, but it's weak enough that the Fox can continue to weaken it on his own now. He doesn't want to arouse suspicion by filling me up with chakra all the time and turning my eyes red, so he's been doing it every night, giving me those nightmares. The scary part is that it's working. Every time I see the seal in my dreams, it's weaker, and it's only a matter of time before it shatters completely.

I tried not sleeping, but Jiraiya, Kakashi and the others quickly noticed the effects, so I had to give up that plan. The problem is, as afraid as I am that the Fox is taking over, I'm still more afraid that the others will stop treating me as a human being if they see how far it's gotten. I'm afraid I'll be killed or locked away. I can't tell anybody. This has to be my battle to fight.

I grabbed the ramen from the microwave and sat down to eat breakfast, rinsing off yesterday morning's chopsticks to use again. Halfway through the ramen, I noticed my hand was still tingling, so I rubbed it. It felt like… peach fuzz. What the hell? I looked down at my hand, and began choking on my ramen.

A sparse, short layer of black hairs had appeared on my hand. My fingernails had sharpened and begun to take on a beige color. The bottoms of my fingertips and my palm had toughened slightly, like calluses, and begun to darken and lose color, making them look grayish. They reminded me of fur, claws, and pads, and those were all the hints I needed: my hand was turning into a fox's paw. I finally swallowed, hard and painfully.

Okay. Don't panic. I fought my quickening breath and heartbeat and forced myself to calm down, like when I was practicing controlling my chakra. First things first. I flexed that hand. Nothing was stiff; I didn't seem to have lost any finger mobility. My hand was still just as dexterous as a human hand. Okay, good. Second, I checked my other hand. That one was still human. Also good. Third, I concentrated some chakra into the pawlike hand. Hmm… the chakra in that hand was partially normal, and partially demonic, although the demon chakra might have been because it was so early in the morning. Alright, just don't use jutsu today in front of Hinata or Neji while they're using the Byakugan. Fine.

Now, how could I conceal it? I thought for a moment, yelping when I tried to scratch my head with my right hand and almost sliced my scalp open. I could wear gloves! No, my only gloves in the house were fingerless; fingered gloves interfered with hand signs. I could hide my hand in my jacket! No, then I couldn't use it. Suddenly, I thought of the Hyuugas again, and inspiration struck me.

**End of Chapter**

**Yes, this does basically take place during the filler arcs, mostly because I don't particularly like Sasuke and this way I'm not required to write him in. Feedback would be appreciated. Updates will come every Monday, with any luck.**

**Next week: training with Kakashi (is he suspicious?), and a new ninja mission with Ino and Chouji.**


	2. Fake It

**Welcome to Chapter 2. There's an obscure reference at the end of the first scene in this chapter; anybody who gets it gets a cookie. A big cookie. Anyway, this is the longest chapter of the three completed so far. Yes, I'm working ahead of time, because I'm going on vacation soon and want to be able to update steadily. Chapters in the future of this fic should be longer. I've tried to dumb down Naruto's narration a little, but that effort has been largely unsuccessful. I apologize for that. Also, we've got a bit more action this chapter, and then a short break before the major action kicks in.**

**I do not own _Naruto_. I only own the contents of this story, including Tokaigakure.**

**Chapter 2**

**Fake It**

I yelled and slammed my fist into the wooden training dummy. Again and again, over and over, I pounded it. All my anger at the Fox, all my anger at Sasuke, all my anger at any villager who had ever hurt me, ever insulted me, was all targeted at that dummy. It was the Kyuubi, it was Sasuke, it was Orochimaru. Its blank face featured every pair of eyes to ever look at me with hate, and every mouth to ever call me a demon, a monster, a beast. With one last roar, I pulled back my left hand – my normal hand – and slammed it into the dummy's featureless head. I was rewarded with a crack, and it sounded more like wood than knucklebones. I pulled my hand back to look – there was a crack in the wood, and the cracks were filled with my blood. I checked the raw cuts on my knuckles, but the Fox was already healing them with a flash of red chakra and a wisp of steam that smelled like blood and sulfur. Stupid Fox.

"Hey there, Naruto. Sorry I was late. I was getting some groceries, and a flock of-"

"Kakashi-sensei?"

"Yes, Naruto?"

"I'm not in the mood to call you out, so just save the cheesy excuse for a day when Sakura's here too."

"Okay then." Kakashi-sensei nervously fingered the porn book in his back pocket before looking at the dummy. "I see you've been doing some taijutsu to warm up while you waited for me."

"Just releasing some anger," I said. Since Operation Rescue That Jerk Sasuke, Kakashi-sensei has been training me and Sakura more and more frequently. I think it's mostly guilt because the one student he picked to focus on was the one he lost, but hey; he's a really good teacher (when he actually bothers to teach _you_), so it's fine. "What should I practice today?"

"That depends."

"Depends on what?"

"On how badly you hurt your hand." Kakashi pointed to my right hand. To cover up the new paw-like features, I had covered it in bandages.

"I didn't hurt my hand," I said defensively.

"Then why the bandages?"

"I… maybe I think they look cool. Neji and Chouji wear bandages."

"You've never worn them before," Kakashi pressed.

"Maybe I just started caring about fashion," I said defensively. It was a mistake: Kakashi saw the weakness, and he pressed it.

"Right. My student who wears orange Day-Glo on ninja missions started caring about fashion." It was a verbal battle, I was on the defensive, and Kakashi was every bit the opponent he was physically.

I gulped. "What do you care if I care about fashion? It doesn't matter to you; get off my back!" I could still force this… maybe. It would be suspicious, but every question I answered otherwise would make it more suspicious, and I didn't see any other way out.

To my relief, he backed off. "Alright, alright. It's a touchy subject." Kakashi gave me a look the next instant, though; a look that left no doubt in my mind that he knew something was wrong. "How about we practice close combat? For every three-man-squad of ninja, you'll almost always find at least one close combat specialist, and you'll have to know how to fight them."

I nodded, and decided to act extra-loud so he'd think everything was normal. "I'm warning you, Kakashi-sensei, I've come a long way since that bell test!"

"Let's see how far you've come. I'll limit myself to taijutsu, close-combat weapons, and evasive ninjutsu. No genjutsu, and nothing like fire jutsu. You don't have to hold back. Ready?"

I had already charged forward with a kunai out. Kakashi-sensei dashed forward, slid cleanly under my slash, and delivered a strong elbow hit to my gut. I gritted my teeth and slashed at him, but he jumped away. "You'll need to do better than that, Naruto. Lee can move as fast as I just did without even taking his weights off. You need to anticipate my moves almost before I've begun. Now, here I come again!" I threw the kunai at Kakashi-sensei. He spun to avoid it and caught it as it flew by before dashing at me again, this time with a slight curve from the left. He drove a punch with his off-hand into my gut…

And was surprised to see the shadow clone burst in a puff of smoke. He hadn't noticed me create it while he spun to grab the kunai! I (the real me) leapt from behind the handy cloud of smoke my clone had created and slashed downward with the kunai. He blocked with the one he had just grabbed, but I expected that and rolled forward in mid-air, drop-kicking at his face. Kakashi-sensei threw up his free hand to block the double kick, but it knocked us apart and I managed to land on his feet. "How was that, sensei?" I asked confidently.

"Not bad…" he said. "That kick would have broken my nose or cheekbone if I hadn't blocked, and it almost broke my arm to block it, which would have been worse for me. Of course…" he yanked back with his 'empty' hand, and I was suddenly pulled back onto my ass and elbows. "There is the matter of the wire I got your ankles tangled in as you spun to kick me."

"Dammit, Kakashi-sensei…" I muttered.

"You're improving, Naruto. Six months ago I would have been able to do all this to you while reading my book. Now I can honestly say I don't feel safe reading while I spar with you." I sighed. Kakashi-sensei was one of the strongest Jounin in the village, so I decided I could actually take that as a compliment from him.

"Planning to spend all day lying on your butt, Naruto?" a girl's voice asked. I turned to see Ino snickering and Chouji eating something… potato chips, judging by the noise. "I didn't know you were physically capable of sitting still that long."

"Ino..." I muttered. Sometimes, Ino was nice enough, and other times… as Sakura put it, she was a pig (in personality; I wouldn't deny that she was good-looking). "What are you doing here on Team 7's training ground?"

"Lady Tsunade wants to see us," Ino answered. "So you'll have to excuse us, Kakashi-sensei," she said with a pandering smile only slightly different from the flirtatious one she gave the likes of Sasuke and Neji.

"That's fine," Kakashi-sensei answered calmly. "Naruto's on a mission… Sakura's training with Tsunade all day today… guess there's nothing left to do but catch up on my reading." If Ino knew my sensei half as well as I did, she wouldn't have looked at me questioning when I shuddered at the mention of Kakashi-sensei's reading. It was weird enough that my sensei was such a porn addict, and then pervy sage turns out to be writing those books… who can blame me for being creeped out?

As we headed out, I turned back to wave goodbye and saw suspicion in his eye. I cursed under my breath… Kakashi was still wondering about my hand. As if on cue, Ino piped up, "Hey, Naruto, what's with your hand?"

"I just felt like bandaging it today, alright?!" I snapped.

Chouji chimed in. Kind of impressive how he could properly talk, look at me, hop from rooftop to rooftop, and eat potato chips simultaneously. "Well, you don't have to get defensive-"

"I'M NOT GETTING DEFENSIVE!"

--

It wasn't long before I stood in the Hokage's tower, with Ino and Chouji flanking me. Grandma Tsunade peered out at us from behind the usual mountain range of paperwork. Shizune stood at her side, with Tonton clutched to her chest. This was the usual scene lately for receiving missions, plus or minus another person at Tsunade's side and with varying ninja on my side of the desk.

"I have a mission for you three," she began. I opened my mouth to speak, but she cut me off. "It has nothing to do with Sasuke, Naruto, but I need you on this mission, so don't bother." I huffed and closed it again, crossing my arms and looking at an interesting spot on the wall. "Anyway, you three know of the Land of Steel, correct?"

"It's a small, relatively young country," Ino said. Drawing a blank, she looked behind my back to Chouji for support.

"It doesn't have many natural resources," he continued, "so it's mainly known for… I don't know, we normally rely on Shikamaru to know this stuff. I do remember that they only recently started a ninja village."

"Correct, and that hole in your knowledge is 'technology', by the way. The Land of Steel imports resources for industry and technology to make money (which I think would be obvious by the nation's name)." Tsunade leaned back in her chair. "But that's not what's important, because I'm not sending you three there. Their new hidden village is what matters. They've applied to be part of the next Chuunin Exams, and there's a test for getting in, so they've sent a few representatives here."

"What kind of test, exactly?" I asked. "It's always tests when ninja villages get together. Don't you ever just have a game of cards?" Ino began to snicker, and I could tell Chouji was grinning behind me.

"Yeah, I wish," Tsunade muttered.

"They send a Genin to the ninja village that hosted the previous Chuunin Exams," Shizune explained. "At least two Kages have to be there as witnesses, and the host village tests the Genin. Not as big as the Chuunin Exams, just a single battle."

"Tokaigakure is the Land of Steel's ninja village," Tsunade continued. "The village leader and his chosen Genin – no doubt, the best in the village – arrive later today. He's supposed to fight three of our Genin tomorrow. In case you haven't figured it out, that's you three."

"Three-on-one sounds a little unfair, even if it's their best Genin," Ino said.

"It's very unfair, but there's a rule about these things, where first he fights one of you, then if he can handle that, he fights two, then all three. Whether he beats you all or none of you doesn't matter – it's the judging of the village leaders that matters. Nobody's ever been rejected before, so they'll get in unless he's just pathetic. This is, to be honest, just an exciting formality."

"Exciting as an exciting formality sounds," I sighed, "can I sit this one out? I need to train for next time I'm up against Orochimaru and his goons." Really, I just didn't want to be fighting in front of everybody while the Fox was trying to take over me, but I could hardly say that, could I?

"_No_, Naruto," Tsunade said forcefully. "I need you paired with Ino and Chouji here. Besides, there's no better training than a live opponent in a situation where people probably won't be seriously hurt."

"What about Shikamaru? He's actually part of their team."

"He's got a Chuunin-level strategy and tactics lecture tomorrow."

"He's taking a Chuunin-level lecture?" Honestly, Shikamaru's strategy and tactics already seemed above Chuunin level. Weren't they the only reason he became Chuunin in the first place?

"He's _teaching _a Chuunin-level lecture," Tsunade said with a smirk.

"What about Sakura? Really, Grandma Tsunade, I think I need to sit this one out."

"First of all… DON'T CALL ME GRANDMA! Sakura's attending Shikamaru's lecture. I figure we need to get rebuilding Team 7. You've got no idea how strategy works, and we don't know who your third team member is even going to be, but Sakura's bright enough that she can grasp Shikamaru's lessons, so she's learning them for your team. That means you're Ino and Chouji's teammate today. It counts as a B-ranked mission for you three. GET OVER IT!"

"Yes, ma'am," I muttered with a sigh.

"What's with you, Naruto?" Ino asked. "Normally you love a good fight."

"Don't worry, Naruto," Chouji said, slapping me on the back good-naturedly. "It'll be fun. Then we'll go out for barbecue – whoever knocks this guy out is the one who won't have to pay."

I faked a smile and looked up at them. "Sounds good!"

**End of Chapter**

**Ooh, plot development. By the way, this Genin from Tokai? The only significant OC in this fic. He'll be of importance... mostly from Chapters 3 to 7. Another big cookie for anybody who figures out what Tokaigakure.**


	3. Respect

**I would like to apologize early... for being late. I had a lot of trouble with Chapter 4 this week, and although my goal was to complete chapters 4 and 5 before my vacation, I didn't even get halfway through Chapter 4 (which I ended up removing most of the planned first scene of, so the second nightmare scene will have to be _bigger_ and _better_. So it will be late by at least a week, and up to two weeks. Again, sorry. I'm not satisfied with this chapter, and I'm sorry for that as well. The structure of this story is flawed in that all the angst is at the beginning, and all the action is later on. The bright side of this is that since I'm getting all my shit writing done immediately, it will seem to you, the reader, like I get a boost in skill starting in chapters 5 and 6. Cool, huh?**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. I only own Hazumi, Tokai, and the contents of this story.**

**Chapter 3**

**Respect**

Grandma Tsunade and Shizune spent the next half-hour giving us some more details, which I tried my best to pay attention to, despite my other concerns. Evidentially, Gaara, Temari and Kankuro would be arriving that night in Konoha. As the children of the late Kazekage, they were acting leaders of Suna until a new fit for the position could be selected, and they would be the 'other Kage' here to judge this new Village. Kakashi-sensei and Neji would be there too, because if the Genin used any techniques against us that the Leaf hadn't seen before, we would be able to copy it with a Sharingan user and better understand its inner workings thanks to a Byakugan user. The usual sneaky ninja bullcrap. I couldn't care less; we'd beat this guy senseless, hopefully before the Fox chakra showed itself, and I'd make sure to deal that final blow; I couldn't afford to pay for even half of Chouji's normal dinner.

Afterwards, I ambled down to Ichiraku Ramen, because I had enough in my lame little budget to have dinner there tonight. Besides, I needed something to raise my spirits, and Konoha just so happened to sell raised spirits in bowl form. "I'll have a bowl of miso ramen, please, Ayame," I asked. The young woman smiled and turned, filling up a bowl with her father's ramen and handing me a pair of chopsticks. I enthusiastically pulled my chopsticks apart and dug in, all the problems of the world seeming to slide away as noodles slid down my throat.

It couldn't be more than a minute later that a pair of footsteps approached the ramen shop. I heard them speak. The first voice was unfamiliar, a guy maybe a couple of years older than me. "Can we stop here for a meal, Lord Kanadzuchi?"

I had never heard the second voice either, a smooth voice coming from a man who was probably middle-aged. "I'm supposed to dine with the Hokage, but I don't see why you can't. You've some Fire Nation currency, right?"

"Yessir."

"Then eat. I'll meet up with you back here in an hour and a half."

Again, "Yessir," and then the guy came into the ramen shop. "Evening," he said to Ayame, the shop owner, and me all together, and he sat down with a polite smile. As I continued to shovel the heaven-sent noodles into my mouth, I took a good look at him. He was taller and broader than me, and kinda heavyset. It was hard to tell under his clothes; he was wearing something like a loose temple robe that covered him from shoulders to ankles (standard issue-shinobi sandals were visible below) and completely hid his arms. The robe itself was black with a grey-and-white flame pattern and a white belt to hold it to his body, and it featured two pockets on the chest that held… something, I couldn't tell what. He had a square jaw, the first stubble of manhood, medium-length brown hair, and lightweight goggles with some green tint, but not enough to completely hide his eyes. He was also wearing a ninja headband, but I didn't recognize the symbol, which resembled a check-mark with little marks around it.

I realized he was looking at me. He must've caught me staring! I swallowed, trying to figure out what to say, but he simply nodded, smiled, and said, "Whatever you're having, you sure are enjoying it." He turned to Ayame. "Can I have what he's having?"

"One bowl of miso ramen, coming right up!" Ayame scooped him a bowl. "And who might you be? I've never seen that symbol before," she said, referring to the forehead protector.

"I'm Hazumi. I'm a Genin here from Tokaigakure, the Land of Steel's ninja village. I'm here for an exam for…" he rolled his eyes behind his goggles. "It's complicated. I'm for an exam." He received his bowl of ramen and thanked her, before pulling some noodles into his mouth. A glint of metal shifted my attention to his hands, which I noticed seemed to be covered in steel gloves.

Once I had looked away from his gloves, it didn't take long to put two and two together. "Hey, I'm one of the guys you're fighting tomorrow!"

"Really?" Hazumi looked at me questioningly. "Well, that's some coincidence. I'm Hanpatsu Hazumi. And you are…"

"Uzumaki Naruto, Konoha's future Hogake and the ninja who's going to beat you tomorrow!" It was a good feeling, saying that. It made me feel like my old self. I turned to Ayame. "I'll have a second bowl, please."

"Really? Well, you guys had better throw everything you have at me tomorrow," he said. "This is really good, I can't blame you for wanting a second bowl."

"Well, ramen's my favorite, and Ichiraku is the best in town!"

"You're too kind, Naruto," the owner said, rubbing the back of his head and grinning from the ego boost I obviously gave him.

"Ramen isn't even my favorite," Hazumi said, digging in enthusiastically. "It's just much better here. Everything's probably better. My ninja village's location is good for a lot, but it's horrible if you're looking for fresh food. We're miles and miles from any farmland or grazing land, so none of the restaurants or markets can get any really fresh ingredients."

"That's a shame," Ayame said sympathetically.

"Strategic location for defense, the capitol city's right on top of us, one of the few good mines in the country… that kind of thing." Hazumi had finished his bowl. "I'll have a second bowl as well."

"And I'll have a third!" I added enthusiastically.

"Whoa." Hazumi lifted his goggles and rubbed his brown eyes, then pulled them back down. I noticed that the metal gloves extended far into his sleeves, maybe to his elbows, and that there was something large and clunky mounted on top of his forearms. I was distantly reminded of that Sound Ninja genin before he jerked me out of my thoughts by saying, "That was amazing! I've never seen anybody eat that quickly, and I have a teammate with a pretty big appetite."

"I can eat ramen all day and night!" I bragged, receiving my third bowl.

"Those sound like betting words," Hazumi said.

I frowned through the ramen on my face. "I don't bet with strangers," I said thickly, and then swallowed. "Check with our Hokage; she never wins at gambling."

"An offer, then," Hazumi said, taking another bite of ramen, but watching me out of his peripheral vision. "Eat as much ramen as you can, and I'll pay for all your bowls past… the fifth. Our village leader isn't stingy, he gave me too much cash to spend."

"You serious? Alright, but you'll regret it." I chowed down even faster, but remembered his gloves and stopped for a minute to ask about them.

"What, these?" Hazumi pulled up one sleeve. "These are my gauntlets. You'll find out all about them when we fight tomorrow." They covered his hand and arm almost to the elbow in cold steel. A large gadget was on top of the forearm, a small one was underneath, and the fingers came to points. "But enough about business, chow down. I want to see how much you can really eat."

--

Pain. Spinning. Sickness. I felt like crap. My head hurt, my back hurt. Mostly my stomach hurt. Was I going to throw up? Yeah, I probably was. I was seeing double, and suffering major vertigo.

"Eight bowls!" Hazumi was shaking his head in amused surprise. "That's amazing! EIGHT!"

"I should have stopped at six…" I mumbled. "Six-and-a-half, maybe, or seven… eight was pushing it too far."

"You're going to throw up!" Hazumi chuckled. "That's hilarious! You just can't pass up free ramen, can you?!" Still chuckling, he paid the ramen shop owner for the food: his two bowls and my sixth, seventh and eighth. "Tonight…" he began, but broke into chuckling again and had to start over. "Tonight, Mr. Uzumaki, we are both winners. Tomorrow, only one of us will be." Through the unpleasant sounds coming from my stomach, I heard footsteps again. "That's probably the Kanadzuchi, my village leader," he said. "I'd better get going." He bowed to Ayame and the ramen shop owner, complimenting the food, and walked out.

"I… I have to go throw up now," I said, excusing myself from the shop owner. "I'll be right back to pay for the first five bowls."

"Take your time," the owner replied with a frown.

**End of Chapter**

**So, what did you think of my OC? If you think he's boring, hopefully he'll get more interesting after the fight with him starts, but I understand. He's meant to be a little understated compared to the canon Naruto characters and my other OCs (who will be in the sequel, if there is one).**


	4. Into the Night

**This chapter is very late. I had horrible writer's block and I hate it and I sincerely apologize that it is neither on-time nor the quality you deserve. I assure you the next chapter will be superior.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own **_**Naruto**_**, Masashi Kishimoto does. I only own Hanpatsu Hazumi and the contents of this story.**

**Chapter 4**

**Into the Night**

Not much later, I stumbled back to my block. The sun was setting, bathing the sky in all kinds of red and purple and the clouds in pale pink. I felt a little nauseous, still, but I was more or less fine. What was with that guy? If you're going to be a jerk to somebody, you act like a jerk to them. You don't act all polite while you goad them into eating so much they vomit. Is that how they do things in Tokai?

Fumbling with the keys, I stumbled into my house. I was tired. My body was tired, my mind was tired, and my soul was tired. I wasn't sure how much longer I could keep up my mask, let alone deal with the Fox himself. Thinking about the Kyuubi reminded me to take off my bandages and check my hand. When I saw what was underneath, I just groaned.

My hand had completely transformed into a fox's paw, except it was still in the shape of a human hand and could still move properly. Black fur extending up just past my wrist, rough black-grey pads on my palm and fingertips, yellow-white claws as sharp as needles, with a slight curve to them. I wondered absently why my hand looked like a normal fox's instead of featuring the all-red coat of the Kyuubi. Holy shit, am I jaded to this kind of thing.

Between the weariness the circumstances forced on me and still being overly full, I could barely make it to my unmade bed and get my jacket, ninja gear and sandals off before I collapsed, falling almost instantly asleep.

--

I tied my headband casually around my forehead, nervously rubbing my paw hand with my human hand. Down the stairs was the gate to the arena, and in the arena was Hazumi. "Tear him to pieces, Naruto," Chouji said encouragingly.

"Will do," I said shakily as I made my way down the steps. I stepped out into the sunlight and could instantly tell something was wrong. The stadium was maybe a quarter-full, but the cheering sounded like a full house. Since when did the most hated kid in Konoha rate that much cheering from even this many people? I'd have guessed Sasuke would rate louder cheering… even taking into account his current status as traitor to the village. And that didn't even begin to describe what was wrong with my opponent.

It wasn't Hazumi. I had only been near Hazumi for maybe forty-five minutes, an hour tops, and even I could tell this was more like somebody in a hastily-made Hazumi Transformation Jutsu. Or something. The expression was all wrong – Hazumi's polite smile was replaced with a too-wide manic grin that would have been over the top for Orochimaru or Kisame's inhuman faces. The goggles shone with yellow light. Hazumi's robes now featured a bright red-and-gold flame pattern that seemed to move, instead of the greyscale flames it normally had. In fact, all of this not-Hazumi seemed off-color and over-colored, like somebody had randomly switched the colors on him and then turned the contrast up to triple. It seemed even more so because everything around him looked so washed-out and low on color.

Not-Hazumi opened his grin and spoke. **"Kit,"** he taunted, and the whole stadium shattered like so much painted glass. The cheering turned into a wailing as a black void swirled around us, and Not-Hazumi began to slowly crack before shattering as well – revealing a Not-Naruto. **"Are you ready, Kit? Because I'm ready. Thirteen years, and I'm finally ready."** My breath caught in my throat. A human-shaped Kyuubi stood proudly across the void, grinning at me with anticipation, wearing my clothes. First one, then two, then four, then nine tails unfurled from behind him, lashing expectantly. **"Kit, you've been guarding my prison for years, and more recently, you've been taking my powers to use as my own. I think it's time I got some compensation."**

I swallowed; my throat was dry, and it felt like I could only bring up bile when I tried to soothe it. "What do you want?" I regretted the question before he answered.

**"I want freedom. And since I now lack a body, I'm afraid I need to borrow yours."** As he spoke, Kyuubi began to grow, bursting through my clothes and losing his human shape. Now a fox the size of a horse, he held his size for the moment. **"But a regular human body is beneath me, so I'm fixing it up to fit me just right. By the time you next awaken, I'll be all ready."**

"So… I'll wake up…"

**"A monster?" ** Kyuubi finished with a chuckle. **"I know what you're thinking, Kit. But no. You'll still be human – mostly. But the next time you need my power – and you will need my power, knowing you - you'll get more than you bargained for. In fact, let's give you a scare and watch."** At first nothing happened. I looked around nervously, waiting for something to come at me, but I didn't see anything but the void and Kyuubi's sick grin, and I only heard my heart pounding in my ears.

Wait a minute – my heart was pounding. That was the whole point! I looked down at my hand – my _paw_ – and saw my veins lighting up red, even underneath the fur. As my heart pounded, my pulse carried the red glow back up my arm, towards my chest. I screamed and grabbed my arm, trying to hold it back, but it kept flowing; in less than a minute, I had screamed myself hoarse and the glow was covering my body. Suddenly, the aura exploded outward from me and filled the whole void in a flash, engulfing Kyuubi's grinning fox face.

When the light died down, I was back in a familiar location – Kyuubi's sewer. I stared at the bars. They were pretty dented now, but something was wrong. They were dented _away _from me. I screamed again as I realized – I was in the fox's cage! **"Don't scream yet, kit,"** Kyuubi spoke from behind me. I turned, and he was right behind me, restored to his massive fox form. Before I could react, his paw had lashed out and clamped down around me. My entire body was stuck in the fist of his humanlike paw. **"Now you can scream,"** he cooed with his sick grin, but I could barely breathe, let alone find my voice.

Kyuubi took my silence as an opportunity to explain how fucked I was. **"It's funny, really – this whole idea hinged on the fact that you'd be too afraid to ask for help. I was worried you'd ask that Iruka fellow, or Bored-Eye, or worse, one of those two Sannin you're so close to. The seal would have been a simple thing to repair even yesterday, but now it's too late…"** He laughed. Evidently nothing was funnier than the harsh realization on my face. **"Naruto Uzumaki, done in by his own cowardice… it's like a poem!"** He shook me four or five times for good measure, and then suddenly I was spinning through the air. Gasping for air, I struggled to regain my bearings… but before I could do more than gather that Kyuubi had thrown me, red-tinted, jagged darkness closed around me in a rush of hot air. It occurred to me that I had been swallowed… and then in a flash, I was in the stadium again, with the red glow surrounding me.

"YAAAAH!" I looked up and saw Hazumi – apparently, the real Hazumi – running towards me with a kunai drawn. Before I knew it, my body was moving, acting – reacting – of its own accord. I lashed out with what I recognized was still a paw, and effortlessly tore into him. No, I tore through him. I ripped him in half with a single one-handed strike. He made a sickening gagging noise, and I smelled some horrible smells. _I… I killed him. Just like that._ Suddenly, I sensed something and turned around.

No way.

Orochimaru, in all his perverse glory, was behind me and approaching fast. His raven hair fanned out from his grinning albino face; his reptilian eyes bulged gleefully from inside his purple tattoos (until I met Orochimaru, I never thought lavender could be so threatening). He zigzagged towards me like, well, a snake, with that nasty sword at the ready behind him.

Again, my body acted without my consent, and I leapt for him with blinding speed. I reached him before he could bring his sword all the way around, and it felt like all I had to do was twitch and his head and sword arm separated from his body and went rolling. _Don't worry, Naruto, it's just a dream,_ I told myself. Then I wondered why I needed comforting from a dream about killing my enemies. How was this supposed to be a nightmare?

More and more Sound nin attacked; Kabuto, Dosu, Kimimaro, and many, many faceless ninja. Even the shinobi that had thrown the glowing shuriken in my last dream. In what seemed like seconds, I was literally standing on a pile of corpses. Then another figure came. My body, which I noticed with alarm was showing more and more fur under the red glow, got into a fighting position without my permission again. Then I noticed it was Sasuke.

"Come at me, Naruto!" he leapt into the air and transformed into that… that thing again, complete with chattering black Chidori in his hand as those grotesque wings powered him towards me… once more, my arm flicked itself forward, and my foe was split apart like overripe fruit.

"NO!" I… I hadn't meant to _kill_ him, but my body wasn't responding to my orders. I suddenly doubled over in pain and felt my lower back tear itself open… and I saw the shadow of nine flailing tails twisting across the ground. "NO!" I screamed again.

Suddenly, another ninja lunged at me. I spun and lunged, still without control. One paw pinned him down as the other tore his throat out. Then I saw the face… this wasn't a ninja from Sound.

It was Iruka-Sensei.

"AHHHHH!"

--

I snapped awake. The sheets were tangled around my still-partially-clothed body. My throat was raw from screaming, and my head was pounding. The early morning sunlight streaming through the window was right in my eyes, and it wasn't helping. Great. That was the worst nightmare yet. At least none of it had really happened. But… was the conversation with the Kyuubi real? I quickly checked all over my body. My hand was still a paw with fingers, and the fur seemed to have worked its way a little past my wrist towards my elbow, but there wasn't any fur anywhere else. No claws or pads on my feet or other hand. I felt my ears and face; still human-shaped, except for the normal whisker-like markings. And best of all, no tails. Thank Heaven for small favors.

_Big fight today_, I reminded myself. Hopefully, I wouldn't have to fight. If I did, there would be Ino and Chouji fighting at the same time, so I wouldn't need the Kyuubi's chakra. Besides, it wasn't a battle to the death. No reason I couldn't let him win if worse came to worse. "You hear that, Kyuubi?!" I said aloud, half-yelling. "I'm not going to use your stinking chakra today!"

After some quick cereal and milk, I brushed my teeth (none of which were fangs). Had to look my best. I spat the paste back into the sink, gargled some water to rinse my mouth out, and grinned in the mirror. _Looking good_, I thought, turning away. Then I realized that something _had _been off about my reflection. My heart rate tripling, I turned back around and looked again.

Shit and shit again. My eyes… my blue eyes had big swirls of red mixed in. The pupils were still round, but that didn't matter much. _How am I going to hide this? I can't just bandage my eyes!_ I quickly began scanning across my little flat, looking for something –anything. Finally, on the shelf where I kept mementos, I had my answer.

**End of Chapter**

**Next chapter, as I said before, will be better. The real battle with Hazumi begins, with Hazumi against Chouji. We also find out who exactly will be watching this battle.**


	5. Numb

**I told you this one would be in Monday! And it's still Monday! HA! Anyway, I've gotten the first real action sequence underway. Hope you enjoy my OC when he's in battle. If you do, tell me, and if you don't, it's even more important that you tell me. This chapter feels a little better to me, so hopefully it is a little better. Let's get right down to it, shall we?**

**Disclaimer: I do not own _Naruto,_ Masashi Kishimoto does. I only own Hazumi, Jouhin, and the contents of the story.**

**Chapter 5**

**Numb**

10:30 A.M. That's when Granny Tsunade told us to be at the arena. I was right on time, not like last time when Konohamaru sicced those freak bulls on me. I took in the surroundings as I passed through the front hall; the arena was an imposing place, a large stone coliseum where the best of the best fought. The damage from the last Chuunin exam finals had been patched up pretty well, although the trees were still recovering from Temari's attacks. As I let my eyes wander, I noticed everybody in a clump at the first few rows of the bleachers.

"Hey, everybody! I'm not late, am I?" I yelled as I ran up the wall to join them. Granny was there, along with Chouji and Ino. Neji and Kakashi-sensei had shown up too, along with a few random Genin, Chuunin, and one Jonin who had no missions and just wanted to watch a good fight. On the second row of the bleachers sat Gaara, Kankuro, and Temari, who were frowing at me along with Neji (as usual). Hazumi was there, along with who I could only guess was the leader of his village. He was a slightly small man with a mild face and slick black hair that was just starting to go grey; probably a bit younger than Pervy Sage and Granny. He was dressed in robes obviously based on those of the five Kages, but his were black with grey accents and he didn't have the wide-brimmed hat.

"Naruto…" Kakashi-Sensei began. I knew what was coming. "Why are you wearing your old goggles? Over your eyes, no less?"

"Isn't that where goggles are supposed to be worn?" I argued. "Look, I knew Hazumi wears goggles; I wanted to wear them too just in case he uses some kind of wind or blinding attacks! Why do you care about my fashion choices anyway?"

"Okay, okay, calm down," Chouji muttered.

"Wait, when did you find out what Hazumi wears?" Granny Tsunade cut in. "I never even told you his name!" All eyes were on me again.

"He happened to be at the ramen shop where I had dinner last night," Hazumi cut in. At least he was nice enough to take the pressure off of me. I sighed in relief as attention shifted to him, and then felt a pang of sadness as I remembered when I used to _want_ to be the center of attention. "We exchanged a bit of conversation. That's all."

The tension decreased slightly as suspicion was lifted off me. I exchanged hellos with everybody, was introduced to Hazumi's village leader – a position they called Kanadzuchi, and he introduced himself as Hagaruma Jouhin. I asked Gaara and the others how the Sand village was doing, and they seemed pretty happy about it. It was hard to tell, of course; Gaara didn't express any enthusiasm, but when Gaara got enthusiastic about things, there were usually a lot of casualties, so I guess that was good. Everybody seemed to be itching to start the fight, though; it wasn't long before the Jouhin guy suggested they get things underway.

"So how do these work again?" I asked.

Kakashi-Sensei sighed. "Chouji will fight Hazumi first. You and Ino will wait with Neji and I in the first row of the bleachers, but be ready to jump in at any moment. Remember, Ino goes second, and you go third." As the four of us walked around the bleachers, opposite the village leaders, Kakashi said very quietly, "Whatever's wrong, Naruto, you can always count on us to help."

I choked back tears. "I don't know what you're talking about, Kakashi-sensei. Everything's fine."

In a moment or so, we sat down, and looked down on Chouji and Hazumi standing across from each other. Hazumi bowed to Chouji, then waited. Chouji bowed too, then took a taijutsu stance when Tsunade called the match to begin. On either side of me, I noticed Neji and Kakashi each activating their own Kekkai-Genkai. Whatever previously unknown tricks Hazumi pulled could very easily become Konoha's. I focused back down on them. Hazumi still hadn't done anything; he hadn't even gone into any real fighting stance, instead just standing there with his arms at his sides. Chouji began to fidget, and finally decided to start the fight himself. "May as well play it straight!" he said loudly enough for us to hear as he clapped his hands together, index fingers up, focusing his chakra. "Body Expansion Jutsu!" Instantly he swelled up like a huge round boulder.

Hazumi cracked a grin, and then burst out laughing. "Wow. Listen, I didn't want to say anything, but… you're _really_ fat."

Before Chouji could properly demonstrate to him what a mistake that comment was, Ino called out shrilly, "Look who's talking, Tubby!"

"I'm not fat!" Hazumi and Chouji both yelled. "I just have broad shoulders!" Hazumi finished.

"How dare you?!" Chouji screamed. "I'm just pleasingly plump! Feel the power of pleasing plumpness and despair! MEAT TANK!" he tucked in his head, arms, and legs, and chakra began to jet out.

"Is the purpose of this attack just to look nightmarish?" Hazumi asked jokingly, but stopped when Chouji began rolling towards him alarmingly fast. "Oh." His right arm snapped up, with his gauntleted hand held down, and I saw something burst from his arm. It wasn't aimed at Chouji… I realized it was some kind of grappling spike attached to a narrow chain. The spike didn't miss; it dug into a thick tree branch, and the chain immediately started retracting, yanking Hazumi out of the way of Chouji's path of destruction at the last second. "Ha! You can't reach me up in the tree!"

"That's what you think!" Chouji called out, steering his rolling body in a wide arc and smashing into the tree. Hazumi shot out his grappling hook again, leaping to another tree as the first was toppled.

"I can just keep jumping from tree to tree, you know," Hazumi pointed out. "This equipment doesn't consume any chakra, really, so you'll run out first."

"But you'll run out of trees to jump to before I run out of chakra!" Chouji replied as he smashed the second tree.

"You may be right," Hazumi admitted as Chouji veered for the new tree he was on. "This will work instead." He pointed his hand at the wall of the arena, right below me, and the spike launched out again. I could see the spike better this time – it looked like the tip spread outward when it dug into something to hold on better.

"Then, when he gets close enough, the tip realigns with the spike, and he can pull it free," Neji mumbled, echoing my thoughts and seeing even more. "It's an ingenious little device. It seems to be activated by him channeling chakra into a certain part of his hand, too.

"Can you reach me up here?" Hazumi laughed, standing on the wall horizontally. Chouji bellowed and slammed into the wall, grinding away at it with his spinning. The impact and tremors knocked Hazumi loose, leaving him wobbling on one foot. "Hey! Knock it off!" Hazumi lowered his right arm (although his left was still windmilling with lack of balance), and shot his grappling spike directly at Chouji. When the spike got close, it just rebounded off, leaving the chain slack. Frustrated, Hazumi reeled the spike in, but Chouji backed up and slammed the wall again, knocking Hazumi completely free from the wall. "Crap!" he managed to turn himself around in the air and slam his palms into the wall. Some sparks were kicked up by his gauntlets, but he managed to slide to a stop above Chouji's reach.

"What was that?" I asked.

"He's not using chakra to stick now," Neji confirmed. "There appear to be small claws concealed in the palms of his gauntlets as well, which he has extended."

"Small claws on his palms… I'll remember that if I half to fight him," I noted.

"COME ON, CHOUJI, KICK HIS TRICKY ASS!" Ino yelled.

"YOU CAN DO IT!" I added helpfully.

"Get off the wall, you flea!" Chouji slammed the wall again, but this time Hazumi kicked off first, flipping into position twenty feet behind Chouji. As soon as Chouji stopped rotating, Hazumi tried to nail him with his spike, but Chouji dodged it by shrinking back to normal size. When the most usefully fat Genin in town got up, he was soaked in sweat and panting, and his cheeks were flushed. "I'm pooped," he wheezed with a cheeky grin. "Ino, can you step in?"

"Oh, for the love of – fine!" Hazumi dashed for Chouji, but a few thrown shuriken at his feet stopped him as Ino leapt from the bleachers and landed in front of Chouji. "Come on, tubby!" Ino yelled. "I'm your opponent now!" I grinned – Ino only had to hold him off for a minute or so, and then Chouji could help her double-team him.

Hazumi scowled at the weight comment, but then regained his composure, and instead stood still with his robe-covered arms crossed, his goggles glinting in the sunlight. "Why don't you come to me?" he chuckled. "You're the aggressor here?"

Ino seemed to lose her confidence. "With those trick gauntlets, Hazumi's almost certainly a better close-range fighter than Ino," Kakashi pointed out. "And she can't try her normal possession technique in a one-on-one fight unless she can figure out a trick like she used against Sakura. For now, she's stuck to using kunai and shuriken and hoping that's enough to hold him off."

Finally, Ino fished a selection of kunai and shuriken out of her pockets and flung them at Hazumi (or rather, half of them). When he leapt over them, she sent the rest flying towards him, giving him no time to recover. Hazumi smirked and began to form hand seals as he landed. "What's he pulling?" Neji wondered aloud.

"Rat-Horse-Tiger-Ram?" Kakashi wondered as he followed the seals. "That's a new combination."

"Iron Style: Burst Reflect!" Hazumi yelled. The kunai and shuriken simply _stopped_ a couple of feet in front of his face for an instant, then with a shrill sound, they broke apart like a cheap piece of wood and were thrown back at Ino! She leapt out of the way, but Chouji's clumsy leap didn't keep him from getting a jagged third of a shuriken in his shoulder.

"Sorry, Chouji!" she quickly apologized. He just grumbled.

"What was _that?!"_ I asked.

"Neji?" Kakashi asked.

"The jutsu simply creates a short wave of chakra in front of him," Neji explained. "But there's more to it. The chakra resonates at a pitch that can shatter small objects made of mostly-pure iron or steel – say, kunai-sized objects, while the burst of chakra itself knocks the pieces back the way they came. A very useful jutsu, but it would consume a moderately high amount of chakra with each use."

"So, don't throw kunai or shuriken at him either," I concluded. "Or if I do, be ready get out of the way."

"That seems about right," Kakashi replied.

Ino had drawn a kunai and leapt for Hazumi, hoping to nail him in melee combat. Hazumi blocked with his left forearm, and the kunai sheared away most of his sleeve, revealing that the gauntlets extended almost to his elbow, and that there were several obvious gadgets attached to them. Hazumi swung a fist at Ino, but she ducked under, and dodged away from the sweeping kick he followed with. She threw the kunai at him – at that distance, he had no time for hand seals – but he blocked with his gauntlet, let the kunai fly off, and leapt for Ino, dragging his palm across her shoulder. It left an animal-like series of gashes on her shoulder – but then Ino disappeared in a puff, revealing a tree branch Chouji had toppled minutes earlier.

"A sub?" Hazumi yelled angrily as he turned. Ino leapt toward him, pulling back her fist to punch, but he launched his grappling spike at her arm – no, through it. This one was a clone. "Hm?!" The real Ino dropped towards him, holding the kunai that had been knocked away a few seconds ago, but his grappling spike latched onto a tree and began to pull him away. He reached out with his other arm, scratching her across the upper arm, but she slashed at him and made a shallow gash in the back of his shoulder with the kunai.

"I'm ready to roll again!" Chouji cried as he leapt up. Ino jumped to his side, holding her wound, and Hazumi leapt down from the tree, facing off against the two.

Suddenly, Ino's kunai clattered to the ground. "What?!" Ino and I both yelled.

Hazumi grinned. "My claws may be… a _little_ bit poisoned." He made a hand gesture to show it was _just a tiny amount_ of poison. "Won't do much more than numb that arm for twenty minutes or so, but I daresay that's plenty for a shinobi battle." He rushed towards Chouji and Ino, both arms behind him. "At the very least, it should help me even the odds!"

"Ino, get behind me," Chouji instructed. "Back me up where you can!"

"Right," she said, getting her kunai out. Chouji jumped forward to meet Hazumi, then feinted back from Hazumi's claws at the last second. He jumped forward again with a kick, which the Tokai ninja blocked, and followed that up by grabbing Hazumi by the arms and throwing him into the air. Hazumi shot out _two _grappling spikes this time – one at Ino, and one at a tree branch. Ino dodged, and that one dug into a rock instead, and Hazumi was pulled between the two, kicking out at Chouji's gut and knocking him over as he flew. With a jerk, Hazumi pulled one spike free from the rock, and swung himself around and onto the tree branch before retracting that spike as well.

"Come on," Hazumi taunted, "Is that all you got?"

"Not nearly!" Chouji leapt at him, and he slashed him away – but it was another illusion.

"Yikes!" Hazumi jumped, dodging the attack made by Ino, but that left him open in midair.

"Gotcha now!" Chouji (the real Chouji) yelled. "Partial Expansion Jutsu!" His arms grew to really disturbing proportions – well, if you ask me, anyway – and he made a grab for Hazumi. In response, Hazumi pointed both his hands back and away from Chouji – palms up this time.

"Try this on for size!" twin columns of flame erupted from his hands, rocketing him into Chouji's chest in a vicious tackle! The two were sent rolling, with Hazumi coming out on top. "You're finished!" Hazumi raised his claws to strike, but Chouji grabbed his arms and the two began to struggle, while Ino searched for an opening.

"You guys are watching, what was that fire attack?!" I asked, panicky. If I had to get in there, I didn't wanna get roasted!

"It wasn't a jutsu," Kakashi-Sensei concluded. "He barely expended chakra at all. I would say those gauntlets also contain some kind of high-intensity fuel, and he just needs to apply enough chakra to create a spark. Then he creates a powerful stream of fire."

"What's more impressive is the way he used it," Neji added. "Because it's not a jutsu, the fireball creates serious recoil; potentially enough to dislocate his shoulders. Instead of having the recoil work against him, Hazumi used it to move his body at higher speeds than he could normally achieve, and to move in midair."

"Gotcha!" Ino grabbed Hazumi with her good arm around his neck, prying him off. "Now, Chouji!"

"Right!" Chouji leapt to his feet, but before he could, Hazumi grabbed at Ino. She was forced off to dodge his claws, and Hazumi then stomped one foot forward and slashed at Chouji. Chouji leapt back, but suddenly, a second set of catlike claws sprang from Hazumi's fingertips, and slashed a line of shallow marks across Chouji's gut. "Gah!"

"Watch for those claws, Naruto," Neji advised. "It's a safe bet to assume that like everything else, he's installed them on both hands."

Hazumi was _all over _Chouji, throwing a punch or swinging his claws at every turn, trying to keep him from launching an Expansion Jutsu. Ino threw another shuriken, but Hazumi turned to block. Chouji took the second of distraction to pin both Hazumi's arms, but after a second of struggling, Hazumi was suddenly able to shake Chouji off. What was worse was that Chouji was wobbling like a drunk. What was going on?

"Forgot to mention," Hazumi said casually. "These claws were poisoned too, and heavier stuff, if not quite so fast-acting. You'll be unconscious for the rest of the afternoon." Chouji was barely able to keep from collapsing through the rest of the sentence.

"Darn!" I yelled.

"Get down there, Naruto!" Neji yelled. "What are you waiting for?!"

I sighed and adjusted my goggles. "You're right." With that, I dove down into the pit.

**End of Chapter**

**Next Chapter: Naruto vs. Hazumi! What will happen?**

**An explanation: Hazumi is beating Chouji and Ino partially because he's tough, but it's also a good matchup. Somebody really good at close-range, like Neji or Lee, would do better against him. Ino's just not that powerful, and Chouji's perfectly beatable if he's not using his pills (which he wouldn't here; it's not a battle for his life or anything). Chouji also generally fights bare-handed, which is kind of disadvantageous against a poison user. Also, just so we're straight here: Hazumi's gauntlets have been revealed to contain: poisonous claws on the palms, claws in the fingertips with more powerful poisons, grappling spikes/hooks (on top of the arm), and flamethrowers (stored below the arm).**


	6. Pretty Handsome Awkward

**Sorry for the late chapter again. After Chapter 7, I'll be taking an intermission, because the first leg of the story is over, and because I'll be busy with other fanfiction concerns. Besides, I want to build up a head start on this fanfiction again.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, Masashi Kishimoto does. I only own Hazumi and the contents of this story.**

**Chapter 6**

**Pretty Handsome Awkward**

_There's only one way to keep them from realizing what's going on, _I thought to myself. _Make it look like everything's fine. Beat Hazumi… like I would beat anybody else. How would I beat anybody else? Hmm… they probably expect me to be loud and overbearing, so let's start with that._ "HEY, FOUR-EYES!" I yelled at Hazumi, who was advancing on Ino. "UP HERE!" He looked up at me as I plummeted towards him foot-first, and brought up that damn gauntlet in time to block my kick. Still, it was powerful enough to push him back against a tree, and I flipped back and landed in front of Ino. "Are you alright?"

"What took you so long?!" she yelled in my ear. "Now we've lost our chance to three-for-one him! The best we can do is, like, one-and-a-half for one, and he might win!"

"Hey, I came to help you out, so some gratitude would be nice! I guess what I'm trying to say is… shut up!" I was not in the mood to take this shit from her!

"Don't you tell ME to shut up! YOU shut up!" She pushed me with her good arm.

"Don't shove me!" I put my hands on her shoulders and shoved her back.

"Don't shove a lady! What kind of _barbarian_ are you?!" She shoved me again. And let me tell you, I wasn't going to be put upon…

"Not much of one, considering that wasn't a lady I was shoving!" I shoved her again.

"Excuse me…"

"Oh, what are you implying?!"

"Excuse me…"

"I'm implying that a _lady_ has a soft, lilting voice, not a harpy screech!" I realized who else was talking. "WHAT?!" I asked Hazumi, but stopped when I noticed his right palm up, aimed at Ino and I, with his left arm supporting it. The small nozzle I noticed underneath his wrist was pointed at us as well.

"You'd do well not to ignore me," he said politely, and then the forces of Hell exploded out of his hand. "WHOA!" Ino and I both jumped to the side, and the fire missed me by a good meter, but I couldn't see if Ino had dodged. Even at this distance, it was blisteringly hot. It roared, and it was blindingly bright, and it smelled horribly like death and plastic, a stench which hung in my throat. So yeah, it attacked all my senses.

"Isn't that attack awesome?" Hazumi said, jumping forward to attack me. I repeatedly jumped back, dodging his claws, and quickly got the stump of a tree that Chouji had knocked over between us. "It's all the fun of the most powerful fire jutsu, without the chakra expenditure. Sure, I have to carry around some highly unstable rocket fuel, but nobody ever said being a shinobi was safe."

"Your sleeve's on fire," I commented dryly. And it was.

"Dammit, I thought I had gotten more fire-resistant material for my sleeves," he complained.

"Now who's distracted?!" I yelled, punching for him. He took the punch, staggering back, but grabbed my arm and dug the claws on his palm in. The poison set in immediately… and the shadow clone disappeared. "What?!" he asked. I may not have been able to sneak a punch through his distraction, but I could sneak in a multiple shadow clone jutsu!

Several clones burst from the foliage around him. "Na…ru…to!" They kicked him into the air, and then four more clones appeared, kicking him even higher, belly-down. "U...zu…ma…ki!" The second set of clones landed on the hands of the first set, and were thrown even higher to strike him again in the gut, knocking him even higher. "TOWER…" The real me waited in the crown of a tree. "…BARRAGE!" I leapt off the tree and flipped downward to smash him to the ground. Pretty good move, huh?

Too bad it didn't work. "Nice try!" Hazumi, battered but conscious, yelled as he saw me somersaulting towards him. He then activated both of his nasty-smelling flamethrowers, aiming them down, and launched himself _even higher_, catching me mid-way on his shoulder. Not only did his rocket-shoulder-tackle knock the wind out of me, the flamethrowers themselves cooked all my shadow clones! As we reached the apex of our flight, Hazumi ended up a little above me. "This is going to hurt you more than it hurts me," he said gently as he aligned his knees on my chest. "But it'll probably hurt me a little bit too." Then he threw his arms back again so that the flamethrowers pointed above and a little behind him. "This is my version! Meteor Barrage!" The twin jets of flame poured from his arm again, and slammed his knees down into my chest, crushing us both down towards the ground. He was right. This was going to hurt.

**WHUMP!** We plowed down through the canopy and several branches of the trees, and slammed into the ground with enough force to leave a bit of a crater. I had taken the impact flat on my back, with Hazumi crushing my ribs, some of which felt broken. It felt like I'd be lucky if I wasn't crippled. Several of Hazumi seemed to be dancing in front of me as he got up. "Ow…" I gasped.

"I'm sorry!" he apologized suddenly. "That was too much, wasn't it? That was my fault – there's no reason our fight can't be civil, but I got a little carried away, didn't I? Well, at least I know that five blasts of the flamethrower in each hand is more than enough ammunition for a single fight-"

"RAH!" Ino leapt at him, kicking him in the back of the head. He was completely off-guard, and plowed headfirst into another tree stump. "You surprise attack me, and I'm sure to return the favor!" she screamed at him. Then she turned to me with a look of concern. "Are you alright? Sakura will kill me if I let her only other teammate get badly hurt on my watch."

"I'm fine," I wheezed with a weak grin. I didn't know she even gave half a crap about me; it felt kinda nice. "Worry about yourself… I see you still can't move that arm."

"I'll be fine," she assured me as she took out a kunai. Good to see she could still stop complaining and be a ninja when the situation called for it. I craned my neck to see Hazumi get up. There was a small cut on his forehead, but he seemed fine, if a little dizzy.

"That was a good ambush there," he said with a smile, "but you're out of luck." He leapt over my prone form and took a few swings at Ino, who dodged several times. Eventually, she was forced to parry with the kunai, which was a mistake – he wrapped his claws around it and simply pulled it out of her hand by the blade, following up with a kick to her stomach. He wasn't really a very agile ninja, I decided – if somebody with Rock Lee's taijutsu skills and speed wore those gauntlets, it would be a much more serious threat. Then I realized he was enough of a threat as it was.

I had to get up. I had to keep fighting. Ino was going to lose, fighting alone at a disadvantage like that. I couldn't let one hard hit to the chest stop that… then I heard the voice in my head. _**I told you you couldn't win alone, Kit.**_

_Get out of my head and shut up._

_**Your wounds are serious. You NEED me.**_

_I said shut up! The medical squad will patch me up!_

_**You need to win NOW, and they may not help you anyway. You need ME.**_

_No… I don't want any of it…_

_**Yesssss… you do…**_ And the sick part is that he was kinda right. As much as I hated him, as much as I hated giving him anything, I didn't entirely want to pass up the chance for victory. Somewhere deep down, I wanted to use his power to win. Somewhere deep down, I wanted to take this Hazumi guy, take that _stupid_ fake politeness, and that _stupid_ bag of tricks, and grind his face into the dirt. I hated myself for it.

I felt the Fox's chakra, burning red, explode out from my stomach, circling around me. I felt my wounds sear themselves shut and heal in a flash. I felt my bones pop painfully back into place, and my teeth and nails extend into more dangerous fangs and claws. My mind surged with new sounds and smells that were normally beyond my senses. I felt it all, but there wasn't a thought in my head; it was just me, and my foe. I never had much rational thought when the Fox took over like this.

I found him evading Ino's desperate final few attacks. Deftly, he kicked her feet out from under her and she fell flat on her back, exhausted and out of tricks. He pointed one finger, claw extended, to her throat, and she gasped, "Uncle! You got me!"

"I beat three Leaf Ninja!" he cried happily, raising his arms in the air triumphantly. "YEAH!"

"You spoke too soon," I growled, leaping up onto a tree branch in plain sight of him.

"You're still up? Holy crap, you're not even hurt," he said in shock. Although he couldn't see my eyes under my goggles, he must have seen a bit of red chakra swirling around me or something, and my whiskers must have been more visible. "What kind of jutsu is that? It's really cool."

"RRAHH!" I leapt down at him, swinging my fist at him. I was much faster now, but he still managed to dodge (barely), and drove his own fist into my face, knocking my goggles away with the well-placed blow. I was aware of something more to the attack as well; I glanced at the back of his fist, and realized a third set of 'claws' had extended – a set of spikes on his knuckles. I felt a weird numbness in my face, and it occurred to me that these were poisoned as well.

"Definitely a cool jutsu," Hazumi said, staring into my red eyes, "but it's over now. That poison is used for interrogation, paralyzing the large muscles for hours while leaving small muscles that control things like speech unaffected." I just grabbed him by the collar of his robe and drove my fist into his gut, sending him flying. He was thrown clear of the trees into the open part of the arena, rolling and tumbling almost to the wall before he came to a stop. "…the hell?!" he gasped, coughing as he struggled to his feet.

"I'll _destroy _you!" I came rushing out of the trees on all fours, closing on him faster than ever before. Still gasping, he lifted his arm and blasted a stream of flame at me, the recoil pressing him fully back against the arena wall. I jumped it and roared like an animal, barreling towards him with my claws pulled back for rending. He yelped and shot both grappling spikes at me. I swatted them aside with a snarl in midair and dove in between them.

"Okay, maybe this is a little too serious," he said nervously.

"DIE!" I slammed into him, pinning him back up against the rounded wall. Yelling again in shock and pain, he desperately backhanded me across the face, catching me with the spiked knuckles again. The venom only halted me for a second, but that was all he needed to slash at me with the claws on his fingertips, forcing me back a bit and giving him room. Not taking any chances, he attacked me ruthlessly, digging a variety of poisoned points into my arms, shoulders, chest and face. He must have hit me a dozen times... and then I just picked myself up.

"Hmm... I'm outta here." he quickly turned and clambered up the wall, first on all fours, then running along the wall, back around towards tree cover. I dug my claws into the wall and pounced after him on all fours, easily catching up before he was even halfway there. "Whoa!" He jumped clear of the wall and shot out his grappling spike again, pulling himself back towards tree cover. Those spikes were really getting on my nerves, and I gave chase, nearly keeping up with the rate he was being pulled at. When he reached the new tree branch, I was still almost on top of him. "Get back!" he yelled, narrowly avoiding a slash of my claws. Then he pointed a hand behind himself and let loose a blast of flame, sending him spiraling past me back into the clear to land hard on his side. I jumped after him again, snarling. "You're starting to scare me, Naruto." He blasted behind himself one-handed again, this time catching me with his knee as he flew past and hurling us both back into the trees (which he had ignited a few of). As I got back up on all fours, he ran deeper into the smokey forest.

I caught up with ease and slammed my elbow into his back, plowing his face into the dirt. Coughing and spitting, he got to his knees in time for me to kick him in the gut, sending him spinning through the air to land against the trunk of a tree, then fall off and land face-down on the ground. "Now I know how you felt earlier," he mumbled as he got up, spitting out more dirt, a bit of tree bark, and some blood. "No hard feelings, right?"

"_**No hard feelings,"**_ I laughed with a voice that wasn't entirely my own. Then I jumped forward and prepared to punch him out... but his reach was a bit longer than mine, and he threw the punch off by punching me in that shoulder first. He followed up by slamming two more punches into my face (the gouges he left on my face healing almost as fast as he left them), and finally aimed his palm at me mid-stagger.

"Sorry I had to do this." I knew what was coming, and jumped out of the way, but the blast of intense flame still caught my right arm. I screamed in pain as the fire burned the sleeve and bandages away... exposing my right arm, covered in fur up to the elbow, for all to see.

**End of Chapter**

**Again, sorry this is so late. Next chapter: Naruto's cover is blown! What will happen?!**


	7. Inside the Fire

**Crap. ANOTHER late chapter that I'm less than satisfied with. You know what? You guys deserve better than this. And that's why I'm putting this fic on a short hiatus. But never mind that; I'll elaborate at the end of the (crappy and short) chapter.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own _Naruto._ Masashi Kishimoto does. I only own Hazumi and the contents of this story.**

**Chapter 7**

**Inside the Fire**

I clutched my arm, more in pain than worry it would be seen, although I heard gasps coming from the sparse audience and that didn't sound good. My arm was patching itself back up already, but DAMN, those flames really hurt!

Hazumi pointed at my arm. "What the hell is that?" he asked calmly. "Whatever that is, I don't think I signed up to fight it."

I tried to respond to him, but I felt my own chakra flaring up even more, cutting me off mid-thought. Red, glowing chakra bubbled up around me, its tendrils slowly covering me. "_No…"_ I protested hoarsely. _"No, I don't need more chakra. I've got enough."_

"**It's too late to shut off the flow, Kit,"** the Fox laughed.

"Uhhh, Naruto? Who are you talking to?" Hazumi asked.

"**I can just keep pumping it into you now until I'm in control!"**

"Are you alright? You don't look too good. How about we end this fight?"

"**Now, crush this bug. He has attacked you, attacked US, using underhanded tactics like poison, and he deserves to die!"**

"_No… he's not so bad… he just fought us to get his village into the next Chuunin Exams."_

"Who is this guy talking to?!" Hazumi called out. I noticed in some corner of my mind he was calling to Ino, who had taken Chouji back up to the front row of bleachers. She just shrugged.

"**Crush him! Murder him, now!"**

"_NO!"_

"**KILL HIM!"** And this time, I heard Kyuubi's guttural voice come out of my lips. _My lips!_ By now, the red chakra had enveloped me completely, and like when I fought Sasuke, had taken a roughly fox-like shape.

Hazumi hadn't just sat dumbstruck – he had raised his palms to me. "Sorry, but..." then I heard a pair of clicks. He paled as we both realized – he was out of fuel. "Gotta run!" He turned, but I was already on top of him, crushing him to the ground and kicking him away like a ragdoll. "Ugh…" he got up and began to crawl away, but I roared and chased after him. "Shit!" he slashed clumsily at me, but missed entirely and I drove an uppercut into his half-raised gut, driving him into the air. I crouched and tensed my legs, preparing to take off after him – but suddenly I was surrounded.

"NARUTO!" Kakashi-Sensei yelled sharply. "What the _hell_ are you doing?!" he was right in front of me, with Tsunade and Shizune behind and to either side of me. Neji and Ino had landed in nearby trees, along with Gaara and his siblings. The Kanadzuchi guy had caught Hazumi in the air and righted him so that they both landed on their feet; Hazumi looked dazed but not too badly injured.

"_I…I…_" I gasped out.

"**HOW DARE HE STOP YOU?!" **Kyuubi raged. **"Kill that bored-eyed fool!**

"_How dare you even suggest that?!"_ I whispered to Kyuubi, horrified.

"Naruto, who are you talking to?" Kakashi-Sensei asked. Judging by the apprehension in his voice, he already knew the answer.

"_I… help?"_ With this, the chakra covering me contracted, then burst outwards, causing the high-level ninja around me to jump back in alarm. It slowly settled to the ground like a blanket, burning everything in a five-foot circle around me, then exploded upward, creating a colossal reddish pillar of poisonous, demonic chakra that stretched toward the sky. I screamed in pain… normally the chakra didn't hurt me, but my skin felt like it was dipped in acid.

"NARUTO!" Tsunade yelled.

"**Hmm… I didn't anticipate this," **the Fox rumbled.** "That chakra column will warn every Shinobi in the town of my impending arrival." **Then he laughed, a barking sound that felt like it drove flaming spikes into my ears. **"Oh well, bring them on."**

"What… what are you doing?!" I asked him.

"**Reshaping your body, just like I promised."** It was true; I saw, and felt my left hand, rapidly growing fur and changing to match the right. Red-orange fur was crawling up both of my arms, towards my shoulders.

"NO!" I yelled, even as I felt it reach my shoulders. "STOP IT!"

"**You're not giving orders here anymore, Kit!" **More flaming spike laughter. I could see the fur turning white as it reached my chest. It was climbing up the back and sides of my neck as well, and creeping down my back.

I broke down. "Please…" I muttered, my eyes tearing up. "Please stop it…"

"NARUTO!" I looked up.

Oh no. Not now.

"Naruto! What's… what's going on?" Sakura had entered the stadium, was making her way over to me. She called to me from behind the wall of burning chakra. "Naruto!" I think she was starting to cry; it was hard to see details through all that red.

"Hey… Sakura…" I managed. I could feel my ears stretching out into furry points as they moved around on my head, but I tried to ignore it. "Sorry you had to see me this way." I made a pathetic attempt to smile, and she started to cry in earnest. Maybe it was the fangs.

I heard a weaker voice mumble my name, and looked past Sakura. Hinata was looking at me and crying as well, although she hadn't gotten so close. Oh crap, the entire town had shown up, just like the damn Fox said they would. Made sense with the column of fire up there, I suppose.

"Sakura! Get back!" Kakashi-sensei forcefully pulled Sakura away. "It's too dangerous!" Kakashi led my friends and some other Genin who were under 15 or 16 away, and my new ears picked up that he was explaining what had really happened to the Kyuubi to them (abridged version). I looked away, down, and noticed that my toes were gaining claws and fur as well. Through it all, the pain (along with some weird force) held me in place, kept me from trying to escape the chakra pillar, or even shifting to a more comfortable standing position. To be fair, I don't think I could have escaped the chakra, since it was coming from my body.

"**My body, in just a minute or so more,"** the Fox taunted me.

"Shut the hell up! You don't deserve this body!" But he was winning. The fur had reached my face, and I felt my nose and mouth start to pull out into a fox's muzzle. "No!"

"**Yes!"** I felt a tight pressure at the base of my spine, building up stronger and stronger. Finally, a tail burst free from my pants, a long, red-furred tail - and then another, and another. In just a few short seconds, there were nine long, deadly tails whipping around me. **"I win, kit."**

"Like hell you do," I whispered. "I'm not going to stop fighting you, no matter what." But I was quickly growing tired, the burning chakra sapping my strength as it pulled in and swirled around me, changing from a pillar to a small dome. I noticed dully that high-level shinobi were taking up positions around the dome, ready to act as soon as it went down. I noticed Gramma Tsunade giving the ready signal - and I noticed she was crying, too. Then I blacked out, and I don't remember anything for quite a while after that.

**End of Chapter**

**Yeah. So I'm doing a short hiatus; unlikely more than a month or two; hopefully I'll have it back for you guys as a Hannukah or Christmas present at latest. The thing is, four late chapters in a row is a sign that the fic's not going well. It's become a chore to write this, and that's not good. In addition, I need to deal with college, and other, more fanfiction-related activities. If you want to know what's so important, feel free to check out the _A Winner Is You!_ tournament I'm hosting, the _Blood-Sport_ tournament on deviantART I'm entered in, or my works in the Cartoon Crossovers or Lilo and Stitch fandoms. Anyway, ciao for now.**

**Next Chapter: We shift point-of-view to a character who can more accurately fill in for Naruto while he's blacked out. Who? Who else could it be...?**


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